Zechariah 8:6 Commentary and Bible Study

If what God says he is going to do for his people seems marvellous, that is, too wonderful to be believed, then let them think again. With great expectation comes potentially great disappointment if we fail to receive what we expected. To protect ourselves against this, we limit our expectations to what seems reasonable. If it seems marvellous to you, or if it seems incredible, it will not be marvellous or incredible in the eyes of the Lord of hosts. He is not ashamed to speak of such future blessings. They should take this into account in evaluating this promise: who is the one making the promise? What is there that he cannot do? The power and glory of God is made use of by the saints to take hold of his word. If anyone else was promising us such marvellous things, we would be entitled to doubt whether they were true or not, but when it is the Lord who speaks we cannot doubt. He never promises more than he can deliver. Indeed, his promises do not fully do justice to the things that he has prepared for us. Certainly, these features were never there in days of monarchy or through the Old Testament. This language would have been considered overblown as a description of what God would do for the nation, but they are no exaggeration when speaking of the gospel age. We who live in the gospel age can underestimate the great blessing we have received – greater than any blessing that Israel knew. Our spiritual blessings far outweigh their carnal blessings, and our blessings have promise of even greater things to come in eternity. God will gather them from the east and west. This is not just the return of those in Babylon, but deliberately goes beyond this and forces us to see this as a description of the call of the Gentiles. God will bring them, as it were, to Jerusalem from the most distant countries. But this is a metaphor, and does not require them to move geographically at all. They are brought not physically, but by trusting the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come to him and obtain life. They are gathered into his kingdom without moving an inch, because the true Jerusalem is not a physical place on earth, but a synonym for the universal church of God. This phrase occurs more than once in the prophets and is quoted by Paul (2 Corinthians 6:16) – ‘they shall be my people, and I will be their God’. But this will be in truth and righteousness. Israel was a typical people; the saints of the New Testament are a real people with genuine Christ-like character. We do not read that the Gentiles enter the church, Zion, as second or third class citizens, but on exactly the same basis as the believing Jew. They are fellow citizens.